


Crack in the Wall

by MightyGlowCloud



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Car Trips & Anxiety, I have one setting:, M/M, Pre-Canon, panic is a guy's best friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 10:48:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20256880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MightyGlowCloud/pseuds/MightyGlowCloud
Summary: Based off WTNV ep152's traffic and some flailing in the KFAM discord.I present to you: Sammy's mindset heading into his first day in King Falls!Sammy found himself driving in circles. He had been for hours... probably had been since he'd left California.





	Crack in the Wall

**Author's Note:**

> Jess, this one's for you <3!

Starting at <strike>their</strike> home in California, he'd barely made it five seconds out the door before he turned around, and unlocked the door with the same resolve he'd used to lock it in the first place. On the floor in the center of the living room that had once been filled with so much light and happiness now sat one small, but heavy cardboard box. One box that was the epicenter of the whole mess that was now his life, full of disjointed papers slotted into stale tomes in a jumble that made absolutely no sense.

One box that, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't part with.

He didn't bother to lock the door behind him, only tearing off the note he'd left on the door for Lily <strike>if he ever got up the nerve to contact her again</strike>.

The box sat in the back of the car on top of the other boxes that were coming with him. Everything else was in storage, too big or too painful to keep as a reminder of what exactly he'd lost.

"Come on, Stevens. Pull it together."

_Pull it together._

It was another hour before he found himself taking a turn that would lead him back home, empty and devoid of the meaning of the word as it was. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the loud honk of another car that he cut in front of before he could commit further to the choice.

He was going to King Falls. He was going to find Jack Wright.

_He **had** to._

In an effort to keep him focused on the road ahead, he turned on the radio.

"Welcome to Shotgun Saturday Night on 444FM! Tonight, we've got a new host-!"

The brief pop of static as the radio switched off again did nothing to distract from the feeling of ice coiled around his spine.

Shotgun Sammy was someone he was all too glad to leave behind.

When he finally pulled in to the small town of King Falls, he was almost happy to turn in for a decent nights' sleep. Long hours on the road had dragged on between uncomfortable rest-stops where there was nothing but the fleeting warmth of bad coffee and bland food before heading back out again. A simple apartment furnished with the bare essentials seemed almost a luxury. Fully-clothed, he was already half-asleep as the sun rose sedately over the horizon.

Only a few hours later, he was jarred from wandering aimlessly through each room of his old home when his phone vibrated loudly on the rickety wooden bedside table.

`You have reached 100% of your data plan allowance.   
Additional charges will apply for exceeding your allowance in this invoice period.`

"Fantastic."

He turned on the lamp in an effort to dispel the nightmare, a chill settling around as the wind outside whistled through a small crack in the edge of the window frame. He was glad of the shoes separating him from the cold wooden floorboards. The movement of blankets overnight had disturbed the dust collected underneath the bed, showing just how empty even this new place had been up until recently.

The weight of this latest change settled like lead around his bones. Where do you even start looking for someone who vanished without little more than the name of a town that didn't even mark on most maps?

** _Start the day as you mean to go on._ **

He took in his surroundings, Jack's words echoing through his head as he did so, dissipating over his tongue bitterly. The room was fairly small. A double bed pushed against the wall; an inbuilt wardrobe nestled by the door of the bedroom; and across from that, a desk beneath the window. There was a small pot holding some drooping flower cuttings set in the middle of the desk, trying their best to brighten the room with their paling colors and slowly wilting petals. Nothing in this room had any life to it. Gray, dusty, and lifeless.

The feeling settled in his stomach as he threw the pot at the wall, watching as it shattered and left a crack in the wall behind it. If anything, it seemed a fitting tribute to the ache that gnawed and pained his heart. He could almost feel the disapproving stare he'd have gotten from his fiancé at the display.

He could do this. As much for himself as it was for what Jack would do in his place, he started pulling himself together, piece by broken piece. King Falls wouldn't be so bad. For all the talk of paranormal bullshit, there was nothing here that couldn't be explained. Somehow, eventually, everything **had** to have answers. Someone in town had to have seen something or heard something...

It would just... take time.

Leaving behind the shards, dirt, and dying flowers, and moving on with the day. Starting with simple things. Things Jack would have done.

Get dressed. Grab some food. Get some sun.  
Get settled in before he had to go to work.

For what little he'd brought with him, unpacking had drained him wholly. The box of books sat unopened at the top of his wardrobe, barely filled with his clothes.

He fiddled with his engagement ring the entire day, hiding his hands in the pocket of his thin hoodie. If he kept the ring on, there'd be questions. Who's the lucky partner? Where are they?

And if he didn't? If he took it off and hid that part of himself _again_, the same way he had done for years... Those thoughts had him wandering the town aimlessly, barely taking in the sights around him other than to make sure he knew the way back to his apartment. It wasn't until the warmth of the afternoon gave way to the chill of night that he realized just how far he'd wandered afield.

He was approaching a foreboding forest, the large pines stretching up above him and blocking out the light of the moon and stars. If he was in any way superstitious, the forest would have seemed... cursed. Instead, it was just another reminder of how much he still didn't know about the town or its residents.

_Shit__._ Of course. It had gotten too late too soon and he was late for his very first night on-air at the local AM radio station. His first opportunity to make a good impression on the town, to get his foot in the door and maybe pull some answers so he could get **out** of this place.

Running back to the apartment took him the better part of 20 minutes, leaving him no time to do anything but quickly change into a shirt and jacket that probably wasn't the most professional look he had available but was at the very least clean.

The whole affair was reminiscent of his first show with Jack. Running late was par for the course, really.

Lily ribbing him mercilessly, haranguing him for all to hear, while Jack chuckled at her side. His bright smile lighting up the whole room whenever he got excited, which was often, somehow managing to pull Lily and Sammy into it.

Then of their later shows, when it was just Shotgun Sammy and his producer Jack. When Jack started slipping into the weird world that had tangled them both unknowingly into a web with seemingly no escape. And at the end of his tether, Sammy had walked right into it.

His hand shook on the steering wheel.

_What am I even doing here?_

He could leave. Ease off the accelerator and pull out of this town that threatened to consume the pieces that remained of his life. After everything that he'd tried, was there really any hope in an illegible notebook that never made any sense? What did he have left to turn back to?

_What would Jack do?_

He'd try. Always.

One foot in front of the other. Picking away at the web that blinded and tangled around him until there was a crack wide enough to see what lay beyond, even if he couldn't see the starting point yet.


End file.
